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Rehoboth city hall project $2 million over budget

Construction is underway at the new city hall in Rehoboth Beach. The building, expected to cost $18 million to complete, is more than $2 million over budget.(Photo: MOLLY MURRAY/The News Journal)Buy Photo

A new city hall under construction in Rehoboth Beach is $2.68 million over budget due to a string of unexpected expenses that range from more extensive stormwater management to adding handrails that were inadvertently left out of the plans.

Mayor Sam Cooper, at a city workshop meeting Monday, said he has "every confidence the city has the money" to pay for the work. Construction is also running behind schedule but the building is expected to be finished in the fall.

Rehoboth officials borrowed $18 million from the US Department of Agriculture rural Development Community Facilities program in federal fiscal year 2015.

The federal program provides grants and loans to provide essential services in rural areas and towns with populations of 20,000 or less. Every municipality in Sussex County meets that benchmark. Rehoboth Beach has a yea round population of 1,398 in 2013, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

The same year Rehoboth got its loan, Nanticoke Memorial Hospital in Seaford was awarded a $7 million loan to connect two existing buildings. The Lewes Public Library received a $50,000 grant and the Harrington Police Department received $15,700 to replace a police car that was damaged in an accident. All told, rural communities in Delaware and Maryland received $31 million in fiscal year 2015 for community facilities.

The project will replace a municipal building that was constructed in 1964. Rehoboth Beach Convention Hall was not demolished as a part of the municipal building project but some upgrades in the convention center are planned.

Rehoboth has two major construction projects in the works. Besides the new city hall, the city has $52.5 million in loan commitments from the state Clean Water State Revolving Fund for build a new ocean outfall and upgrade the city's existing wastewater treatment plant. The city is under a court order to stop discharging treated wastewater into Lewes and Rehoboth Canal by June 2018. The city is awaiting state and federal permits on the project.

Contact Molly Murray at (302) 463-3334 or mmurray@delawareonline.com. Follow her on Twitter @MollyMurraytnj.